Safety guard



March 12, 1968 SANGER 3,372,772

SAFETY GUARD Filed May 9, 1966 United States Patent 3,372,772 SAFETYGUARD Murray Singer, 307 Hickory St, Massapequa, NY. 11762 Filed May9,1966, Ser. No. 548,489 1 Claim. (Cl. 182-230) ABSTRACT OF THEDISELOSURE This invention relates to a self-locking guard for a swimmingpool ladder wherein the self-locking feature is a spring loaded tongueadapted to engage the underside of a swimming pool ladder step.

This invention relates to a safety guard for swimming pool ladders.

Swimming pool ladders are a hazard to small children inasmuch as theyare attracted by them and after climbing them they may fall into theswimming pool.

It is an object of this invention to provide a self locking safety guardfor such swimming pool ladders such that a small child is incapable ofreleasing.

This invention is illustrated by an embodiment thereof shown in theaccompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the safety guard shown disposed on aconventional pool ladder for above ground pools having plastic liners,

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the safety guard of FIG. 1 showing the mannerof securing the guart to the steps of the ladder,

FIG. 3 is a section view taken on line 3--3 of FIG. 2, and showing themanner of self-locking a leaf spring to the underside of a ladder step,

FIG. 4 is a section view taken on line 44 of FIG. 2 showing the mannerof obtaining a bevel edge on the periphery of the safety guard, and

FIG. 5 is a section view of a modified locking spring.

The safety guard device of this invention is essentially a sheet or flatplate having securing means thereon to engage a plurality ofspaced-apart ladder steps and having also a spring locking means toengage the underside of a ladder step to prevent removal of the guardexcept by a deliberate manual operation performed on said spring.

Turning to the drawing, the plate or sheet is generally of a size andrectangular shape as to cover many steps of a pool ladder when disposedthereupon. The sheet 10 may be of galvanized or enameled sheet metal,fiberglass, aluminum or other corrosion resistant material.

The sheet 10 is provided preferably with four adjustable somewhatL-shaped brackets 11 disposed suitably at the respective corners of therear side of said sheet.

The sheet 10 is also provided with a plurality of linearly disposedapertures 12 to be used in co-action with said brackets 11 to permitselective movement of a bracket 11 in order to suitably engage a ladderstep 13.

The brackets 11 are used in spaced-apart pairs, so that each pair oftransversely disposed brackets engages respective step 13. Such anarrangement permits the four brackets 11 to engage the ladder 14 at twosteps and thus at four widely separated points to prevent rotationalmovement of the guard on the ladder when the leaf spring 15 is lockinglyengaged underneath a ladder step 13. The spring 15 is bolted to sheet 10by means of bolts 20.

As shown in FIG. 3, the brackets 11 are made from two substantiallyL-shaped elements, namely a top element 16 and a bottom element 17. Thetop element 16 is bolted by means, of a pair of bolts 16X withinapertures 12 selectively to sheet 10. The horizontal bottom leg 16Y(FIG. 3) of the top element 16 is provided with a plurality ofapertures. Similiarly the top horizontal leg 17X of the bottom L-shapedelement 17 is provided with a plurality of apertures. The bottom leg 17Xis bolted selectively by means of bolts 18 to leg 16Y of the top element16 so as to accommodate ladder steps 13 of various widths.

In placing a safety guard onto a ladder, the guard is carefully pushedtoward the ladder so that the depending leg portions 17Y of the brackets11 pass over the respective steps 13.

Next the sheet 10 is pushed against the ladder causing the top edge 19of the spring 15 to be pushed against the rear face of the sheet 10.

The guard is then pushed downwardly causing the top edge 19 of spring 15to push outwardly after sliding passed the engaging step 13. In thismanner the spring 15 locks the guard to a step since mere upwardmovement of the guard will not free it from the ladder 14.

In order to remove the guard, the spring edge 19 must be deliberatelyand manually pushed flat against the rear face of the sheet 10 and asimultaneous upward and outward movment of the pulled away guard must bemade.

In order to prevent injury where sheet metal is used the peripheral edgeof the sheet is provided with a folded over edge 21X. A handle 22 isprovided to facilitate the handling of the guard,

As shown in FIG. 5, the locking spring 15 may be modified to permitrelease from locking engagment from the front side of the guard plate10. To attain this end the modified spring 15X is provided with anintegral angularly disposed portion 15Y which is disposed through asuitable aperture 20X located in plate 10. A knob 21 is secured byconventional means to the end of the portion 15Y that continuouslyprotrudes through aperture 20X. Pulling of the knob 21 in the directionof the arrow (FIG. 5) permits the spring 15X to be disposed parallel toand against the rear surface of plate 10 to permit removal of the guardfrom the ladder 14.

Various obvious modifications of this invention are possible within thescope thereof.

Thus where tapered pool ladders are used, clearly the sheet 10 may betapered adjacent its bottom edge to cover the bottom larger laddersteps.

Also brackets other than the type of brackets 11 may be used forexample, brackets of a clip-on configuration.

I claim:

1. A safety guard for above ground swimming pool ladders comprising aflat rectangular sheet element adapted to overlay a plurality of laddersteps, a plurality of at least four substanially L-shaped bracketsdisposed in pairs on said sheet and adjacent each of the corners togravitationally engage a pair of spaced-apart ladder steps, and 7-shapedleaf spring locking means having a horizontal disposed top handleportion protruding at one end through an aperture in said sheet andhaving a downwardly directed stem portion at its other end, said leafspring being secured at the base of said stem portion to the rear sideof said sheet element, said spring having its top edge continuouslyurged away from said sheet element and adapted to be adjacent to theunderside of a ladder step.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,069,969 2/1937 Nelson l821212,174,891 10/1939 Marau 182-121 2,183,191 12/1939 Heidel 182-l212,876,047 3/1959 La Plante 182121 3,225,863 12/1965 Ludlow 182-404463,868 11/1891 Norman 182209 FOREIGN PATENTS 15,061 12/ 1926Netherlands.

REINALDO P. MACHADO, Primary Examiner.

